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Ever wondered what the Park Fees & Conservation Levy charge actually goes towards?
In short, our long term commitment has always been the conservation of the National Park, it’s wildlife and the community to whom it belongs. We support these commitments through the charge of Park Fees & Conservation Levy which go directly towards the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ), our Social Responsibiliy Programme supporting the iSchool Zedupad initiative and in support of the annual charitable Elephant Charge Event.
Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) is a non-profit organisation committed to the protection of wildlife and to the sustainable use of natural resources in the Lower Zambezi.
In 1994, concerned local safari operators and other stakeholders recognised the need for organised support to the national wildlife protection authority (now DNPW) to combat the poaching that was decimating the wildlife populations in the Lower Zambezi.
Since its humble beginnings with basic support to the wildlife authority, CLZ has grown and increased its activities and efforts in the Lower Zambezi. Not only has CLZ’s support to DNPW increased substantially over the years, the organisation now also runs an Environmental Education Programme (2004), a Village Scout Unit (2013) and a Community Development Programme (2013), as well as this CLZ hosts the annual Safari Guides Training courses and exams for the Lower Zambezi (2001).
To highlight a few in 2016
– CLZ supported 9,879 patrol man-days
– The CLZ plane flew 189 hours of aerial patrols
– 56 Poachers were apprehended, 14 firearms & 23 pieces of ivory recovered
– CLZ’s outreach programme reached 2,697 pupils from 56 schools surrounding the park
– 80 candidates sat Safari Guide Exams
The challenge among teachers in local schools (combined with a lack of resources) is having to deal with 60:1 student/teacher ratio at any given time. iSchool seeks to reduce this scale by introducing the Zedupad tablet, which is loaded with the whole Zambian Primary School Curriculum in English and 8 other local languages. This, coupled with voice-overs to help with literacy, has greatly improved student engagement, levels of numeracy, literacy and critical thinking, as well as reduced absenteeism among pupils.
Students are split into 3 groups, the creative tasks team works with the teacher, the second group works independently to help reinforce learning while the third team works with the tablet. These tablets can be shared by 6 students at a time to help reduce costs.
Our Corporate Social Responsibility program has identified Mugurameno Primary School, located on the border of the Lower Zambezi National Park. So far we have provided:
Teacher training and ongoing mentoring support: 3 teachers from the school underwent training in Lusaka. This was achieved through partnering with ischool Zambia who provide the required and necessary training for the teachers. The training consists of 3 days face to face instruction at the start of the program, which covers an introduction to the technology, and then a comprehensive look at the move from conventional learning to child-centred active learning.
Provision of Zedupads for Grades 1 and 2: we have donated 19 student tablets, 2 teacher tablets, one projector with a battery pack (to allow use without electricity) and a solar power docking station.
Provision of other classroom supplies including desks, chairs and bookshelves.
The aim is to now introduce ischool to the remaining grades 3 – 7.
Having taken home the trophy and with over US$63,000.00 raised from all who participated at the weekend long “Charge” in 2016 we are eagerly looking forward to the 2017 Elephant Charge which will be held from the 13-15 October.
The Elephant Charge challenges teams of cars and motorbikes to complete a gruelling course through the Zambian bush all in the name of charity. The winning team is the one that completed a course of ten checkpoints in the shortest distance possible. Each team must find their own route between the checkpoints through valleys, over ridges and up escarpments in a trial of driving, navigating and endurance.
The elephant Charge raises money for 10 beneficiaries who are all well-reputed conservation projects located all over Zambia. It is up to the teams to donate a pledge minimum of US$800.
For more information please visit: http://www.elephantcharge.org/about.html or talk to us here.